Bared Fangs
by Kutsu
Summary: Legends tells of the great demon-fox that spread havoc upon the race of men, centuries before our time. Now the legends have aged died, with no one to remember to beware. Sasuke Uchiha is far from knowing what awaits him when he decides to take a poor, defenseless and unfortunate boy under his care.
1. Don't pick up lost puppies, teme

_Once upon a time, there was a nine-tailed demon fox, whose mighty tails could crumble mountains and cause tsunamis. No one knew what had unleashed its fury, and no one knew how to appease it. So the greatest ninjas reunited to find a way to destroy the demon. _

_One of them went to find the fox on a full moon, where the arcane powers are strongest. Their battle echoed across the distant land, and as the skies unveiled the silver globe hanging in the heavens, the demon's roar of agony shook the ground, and the evil beast vanished from the face of the Earth. Neither the fox nor the brave ninja were seen again. _

**Tokyo, present day.**

The sky rumbled menacingly, its black clouds advancing upon the Japanese capital with all the ill will Mother Nature had managed to summon, and the first fat drops of water made their frenetic way towards the ground. Most people took the hint. The streets emptied, or filled with umbrellas -black, for most- and the capital seemed to quiet under the rain.

The first streaks of lighting zapped overhead, and thunder clapped. A lighting blot dived deep, defying the laws of physics by sinking straight past the captors of the highest buildings, down, down into the streets. Thankfully, the one it landed in was completely empty.

_Alive._ He couldn't believe it. But he could feel his painfully drumming heart inside his chest, hear his gasping breath release and absorb humid air, and he could see. On the other hand, he couldn't feel his power at all. Yondaime had managed to seal it, and in his present state there was nothing he could do to change that.

Grunting, he pushed himself away from the humid ground. And suddenly realized that something was very, very wrong. He couldn't feel any of his tails. His hind legs were too long. And...He looked down. His paws were furless, clawless, star-shaped. He'd recognize those anywhere. Human. He was human.

Glaring up at the pitch black sky, Kyuubi opened his mouth and roared, cursing all of Minato Namikaze's ancestors to Hell.

Snapping his jaw shut, he difficultly recoiled against the first hard surface he could find. Yondaime was gone, and he needed to get himself out of this mess. Where was he? The stone in his back was alarmingly dull in essence. The three walls surrounding him were unnaturally smooth, and so was the ground. This had to be human made.

Cursing to himself, Kyuubi looked around. There wasn't anything worth of interest, and so he began analyzing his form. He had on the strange, fake fur humans liked to put on their bodies. With the cold rain, he was beginning to understand its use. He shivered. Humans were so weak. His hind feet were also wrapped up, albeit with thicker material. Reaching down to smell, he realized how much his senses had dulled. The sound of the rain deafened his ears, and he could hardly hear anything else. His vision had lowered, due to the darkness, though not alarmingly so. Night would be another story. His nose was the worst off; he actually had to stick it to the material in order to get the smallest whiff.

He mentally reached out. At least he could still read the energy fluctuations. Energy sources -living beings- were rare, small in his immediate surroundings. The ground did not hold any trace of its usual flurry of activity. As if men had pounded it so thoroughly it not lay empty and consumed beneath his feet. The hollow lifelessness of his support was making him nauseous.

And then he picked up human fire. There were several, actually, heading in his direction. Flattening himself against the stone, Kyuubi cursed. He couldn't fight, and there was nowhere to hide.

* * *

><p>Uchiha Itachi gave a disapproving click of his tongue as the arm he was trying to mend recoiled away from the disinfectant, and gave his brother a stern look. "Where did you find him again?"<p>

The boy didn't move entirely away from him, aware of what would happen if he tried. The three previous attempts had made their point. He observed Itachi with clear suspicion, and often glanced back towards the younger Uchiha.

"In the streets," Sasuke replied. "He was getting pounded by a group of thugs, and when I saw he couldn't walk-"

"You took him with you." Gently he grabbed the arm again, and met the boy's fierce gaze. "I know it hurts," he told him sternly. "But it'll be worse if I don't do this."

"I don't think he understands you," Sasuke remarked. "He didn't answer me when I asked him who he was."

"He gets my meaning," the elder Uchiha assured, smirking in satisfaction as the arm in his hand grudgingly relaxed. He brought the disinfecting cloth upon the skin once more, slowly. The boy didn't budge, but released a low growl when the alcohol touched his injured skin. Itachi shushed him, quickly cleaning the wound before taking out some Band-Aid. "They didn't miss him, did they?" he muttered darkly. "Strange kid, though. Can't speak, stand or walk, and you said he looked like he'd lived his life on a desert island?"

"You don't know how long it took me to get him into the car," Sasuke sighed. "I figured he'd gotten locked up his entire life or something."

"You called hospitals?" Itachi finished bandaging the arm, and moved to the right leg, inspecting the damage with careful fingers. Nothing looked broken, but the bruises on the skin were impressive.

"They haven't heard of him. He had no papers, nothing on him except for his clothes."

The kid hissed, and he removed his hand. "I see you coming," Itachi informed his brother. "You had the exact same behavior when you brought Iyoka home and asked us if we could keep him. This isn't some lost puppy, Sasuke."

"I'm not twelve either," the younger Uchiha snapped back. Jerking his head in the kid's direction, he added, "_He_ needs help. And he won't tolerate the asylum."

"True." Itachi observed his brother's guest with impassive eyes as the young human slowly edged away from him and, strangely, towards Sasuke. "He trusts you, doesn't he?"

A shrug. "I helped him out. He knows I won't let him get hurt."

"He's smart, then."

A raven eyebrow rose. "You doubted that?"

"I doubt it with anyone his age who can't talk or stand," Itachi replied carelessly. Then, in a drawling voice, he added, "Do you have anything to eat? I didn't get time to buy something after you called. Ramen's fine," he finished as Sasuke sighed, and headed towards the kitchen.

Wild eyes widened brusquely, and a small sound emerged from the boy's throat. A call of some sort -except the kid didn't seem to have any idea of how to make use of his vocal chords.

"Where are you from?" Itachi wondered aloud. The boy turned towards him, warily alert. The Uchiha heir sighed. "Come here," he ordered.

The younger male refused to budge, and Sasuke poked his head out from the kitchen. "Leave him alone," came the expected growl.

"Where do you reckon he's from?" Itachi asked. "Europe? He's got strange skin, too..." Slowly he approached the boy, careful to leave both of his hands in plain view. A low growl resonated again, but besides flattening himself against the wall, the younger male did not move. Gently, Itachi reached for the immobile arm, not grabbing, but prodding the skin with expert fingers. "Baby soft," he whispered, sounding slightly amazed. "No marks, except for what he just got, and-"

Sasuke heard his brother swear under his breath, and swiftly grabbed the hot ramen cup before returning to the living room. "What happened?"

"He bit me," the elder Uchiha stated in an indignant tone, clutching the side of his hand with mournful eyes. "Do you have any idea of how much that hurts?" he asked the silently glaring male. The kid merely bared his teeth.

"You're still sure he's not a puppy?" Sasuke teased, handing the hot cup to his brother. Sniffing, Itachi removed the lid, and gave his meal a somber look.

"I'm starting to doubt my own words," he growled. "Fine. But I get to name him." A truly demonic smile -demonic, because it look so twistedly innocent- appeared on the elder Uchiha's face, and the boy must have sensed impending doom, because he released another low growl. Looking brilliantly unruffled, Itachi looked back at his dinner. And the smile kept growing. "What about Naruto?" he asked, lifting one of the small fishcakes from the cup. "Fits him, don't you think?"

"I don't get where you see the connection," Sasuke growled back. He shut up as the boy suddenly edged forward, eyes curious for the first time.

"You want some?" Itachi extended his arm, offering the small bit of food to the younger male. "Pity to eat your namesake, but if you're hungry..." he smirked as Naruto -because the name _would_ stay, he'd decided- eyed him suspiciously before biting off the pair of chopsticks, effectively removing the prayed food from Itachi's hold. "Go get a mirror," the eldest Uchiha then ordered his brother.

Sasuke frowned. "Why?"

"I want to see something. Whether or not he can understand what his reflection is."

"Is that supposed to give us an idea of his level of intelligence?"

The older man chuckled. "Something like that."

Sighing, Sasuke went to oblige, but not before noting another small tensing in the boy's figure. Inwardly, he smirked.

The mirror was placed against the wall, under Itachi's orders. Convincing Naruto to move towards the object was another story; eventually they managed by tempting him with ramen. The reaction, however, was not what either of them had expected.

* * *

><p>There he was. Not the same as he'd last seen him, but humans changed rapidly over the years, and he wasn't that surprised to see that Yondaime had gotten younger again. It was perfectly conceivable that his stolen power would be enough to achieve the feat. Without even stopping to think, Kyuubi leaped.<p>

And slammed straight into an invisible surface, which apparently had also halted the cursed human. He rubbed his snout angrily, even more so when he saw Yondaime was imitating him. And glaring back nearly as harshly as he was. This was unusual.

Kyuubi blinked. To his utmost surprise, the blond man in front of him lost any sense of aggressiveness, and blinked as well. For some reason, he could only see Yondaime through the wooden square the savior had brought; was it some kind of portal? Approaching more slowly this time, his lifted a forepaw carefully, and pressed it against the surface. Cool, he noted. Lifeless as well; and he couldn't sense any mystical power within the object. Worse, in front of him, Yondaime copied his every movement, and seemed to have reached the same conclusions. And-

Suddenly alert, he looked down, then back at the other man. No. The fake fur on his body was the same as the hated human's. And their forepaws... they were the same. The exact same. Suddenly, Kyuubi came to complete understanding of his curse. Minato Namikaze hadn't stolen his powers; he'd sealed them within his own body. Paying with his soul, the great ninja had transported them both to a foreign world, so that the demonic fox would never avenge itself on the people of Konoha. He could feel traces of the man, however. A message, more like. He could feel it. All he needed to understand it was concentrate.

Sitting back like he'd witnessed the other humans do, he closed his eyes, and focused his mind. Reaching deep within himself, he found him.

Minato Namikaze's soul was trapped, attached and sealed away in a giant golden cage, looking quite unruffled by his present state. And now that they could speak mind to mind, it was fairly easy to communicate.

"_You've finally realized,_" the ninja stated with a small smile. "_How do you like your new body?_"

"_I'll curse all of your descendants as soon as I get my powers back,_" the humanized fox seethed. "_What have you done with them?_"

"_They're in me._" The deep blue gaze was unfaltering. "_I control those, for now. I'm leaving you a body._"

"_A human body,_" Kyuubi snarled. "_A useless body._"

The blond shook his head. "_A young body,_" he corrected. "_One that will allow you to live to the fullest of your ability. If you decide to learn, you won't have any problem doing so._" The face was serious. "_I'm offering you to live a human life,_" Minato said evenly. "_I believe it's better than what I have to deal with, don't you?_"

Kyuubi roared. It sounded nothing like he wanted it to, but his human throat was obviously not meant for the task.

Yondaime chuckled. "_I'll be watching you from the inside,_" he told the fox. "_Now go back and live a little._" And cut off.

* * *

><p>Sky blue eyes flew open again, and Itachi hurried forward as the boy released an anguished roar of fury, and began attacking his own face. He and Sasuke had to struggle for nearly half an hour before exhaustion took over the blond and sent him to sleep. Once they had put him in the guestroom bed, they returned to the living room.<p>

"Mirrors," Itachi finally concluded. "Not a good idea."

Sasuke shook his head angrily. "You could have used morphine on him," he growled. "It would have spared us the trouble."

"And would have brought us his immediate distrust." The older man's eyes were serious. "He's not an idiot, Sasuke, and I don't think he'll forget it if we force him to sleep." He observed his brother. "What are you going to do with him?"

The youngest Uchiha shrugged. "Keep him until he's ready to fare on his own," he answered darkly. "He trusts me."

"He can learn to trust other people," Itachi replied. "You don't have time for charity work."

"If I send him off he'll never trust anyone else," Sasuke snapped. "You said it yourself; he's bound to remember anything we do to him."

There was a pause, then Itachi sighed. "I'll try to visit as often as I can," he finally sighed. "Feel free to call whenever you want."

* * *

><p><strong>Uh... Long time no see? I went back through my archives and realized I'd never posted this story due to the fact that it wasn't finished. I do have a couple of chapters ahead of me, but I'll try to wait a bit before posting or you'll be in for a looong wait once I finish with those. Don't kill me, anyways, I'm back.<strong>

**For those people wondering, I do keep reading every single review I get, so don't hesitate to tell me what you think :p**


	2. That strange little world

**New chapter :p**

**Small clarification I need to make: when Kyuubi and Minato speak together, they don't use actual words, communicating directly through their minds. Since they share the same body, it's a lot easier for them to understand each other.**

* * *

><p>Days passed in excruciating dullness. He was kept in this burrow-cage all the time, and hadn't yet figured how to pull open the pieces of wood that led Elsewhere. He needed the human for this, and the human wouldn't let him leave the burrow-cage.<p>

On the other hand, seeing how complicated life already was in this minuscule piece of territory, he shuddered to think of what lay outside, especially when he remembered how vivid the last experience had been. No, staying in the burrow-cage, at least until he had adapted, was clearly the wisest solution.

There was an infinity of rules. Humans had complicated life to the point where his head spun, wondering why these fragile, wailing, explosive creatures had ever seen the day.

He couldn't eat with his mouth -his mouth!- or forepaws, and had to use oddly shaped sticks of metal to place the cut pieces -because he wasn't allowed to use his teeth, obviously- between his jaws. He couldn't drink from anywhere, and had to activate a water-giver located in one of the cage-burrow's smaller chambers. Water for the plants belonged to the plants, and water from the wet-rooms belonged to the wet-rooms. Except there was another water-giver in one of those. He had to keep his forepaws clean, all the time; before and after meals, after relieving himself -and that couldn't be done anywhere else than inside the strange white bucket located in the smallest wet-room (he'd taken hours to figure out that one out, even with the human's help), and the horrible sound it made to make his productions vanish did nothing to help- and whenever he touched the ground, or plants, or anything sticky (although there he could understand the necessity) and had to clean his entire body in the big wet-room, where he'd learned that humans had finally mastered rain in its entirety.

He also had to keep on the fake-fur, but had to change it every time the sun crossed the horizon, and couldn't remove them even to sleep. He had to learn how to walk on his hind legs -a true challenge, that one, he couldn't figure out for the life of him how these humans managed to do it so quickly- and most of all, he needed to understand human speech.

The sheer variety of sounds they could produce -and the multitude of meanings that could spring from different associations of those sounds- was simply overwhelming, and yet he had to learn some of it.

From the energy readings, he could interpret certain meanings from the human -'wash your forepaws' had actually been the first- and he'd learned to recognize the sounds. His human ear might have been weak, but differentiated the sounds with a skill his fox-ear might not have managed. His nose wasn't so troubling as well; he'd understood the necessity to wash, or rid oneself of his belly productions by getting the whiff of it -human noses were actually very good for detecting bad odors, and it was amazing to see how many things fell into that category- and his eyes...Just like with all of his other senses, they had begun to appreciate something he had never consciously registered in his fox-body. Beauty.

The human had named the concept when he spotted Kyuubi observing one of the colored squares that were hanging off the walls. Put on it was an odd substance Kyuubi had been unable to identify, but which had been skillfully placed to represent the Other Human, the one who had to hurt to make the pain go away. The image was very similar, but that was what his human brain told him. He couldn't have conceived that an entity could be anything else than a live corpse. But now, he accepted the fact that the lifeless human on the square and the Other Human were the same.

And yet, there was something quite different here. Perhaps it were the colors that provoked this, but the Other Human on the square was more thrilling to watch, more soothing to the eye, agreeable in a way that sometimes made him sit in front of the square during his hours of solitude, and remain there until his human returned. And he'd remembered the word associated to this notion -the eye-pleasure, or the ear-pleasure, when the human had showed him sounds designed only to be listened to for the feel of it; beauty.

His own soul was numbing, he knew this, and so he focused every day on his anger for Minato. His powers hadn't returned, not those that hadn't been there from the start. But his reading had gotten a lot better over the days. Which was the only positive point he could admit to himself.

Kyuubi rolled beneath the warm fake-fur (it wasn't exactly fake-fur, but it seemed to be made out of the same material, and had the exact same function of keeping his vulnerable body warm while he slept). He was uncomfortable, although he couldn't tell exactly why. Especially if he kept tossing.

Forcing himself to remain still, he closed his eyes, and explored his body with his mind. He didn't hurt anywhere. Not exactly. It felt more like he was missing something. Something extremely dire, which would bring him great relief. But it wasn't the usual trip to the small wet-room that he needed. Although...Opening his eyes, he looked down. It did come from the same area. But it wasn't at all the same thing. This need was much, much stronger.

In the few seconds that followed, Kyuubi finally understood what this meant, and cursed. Why did the mating season have to come now? Didn't these humans have any practical sense? They were at the start of winter, and females already had to feed themselves, much less any other soul forming inside of them. But it didn't matter. Right now, he needed to find a mate, or his need would never lessen.

Stiffly, he got to his feet, hissing at the cold air, and edged out of the den-room. He needed to get out. He still hadn't figured how to open the wooden panels, but maybe he'd convince Yondaime to let him blow it apart. This was an emergency.

But the trapped man refused. Furiously, he clawed at the door, cursing Minato with all the fervor he knew, and then became absolutely still. Despite the race's weak hearing, he'd woken the human. And that wasn't good at all.

He couldn't be the only one who'd sensed the mating season's arrival. And in the face of this other male, he didn't stand the slightest chance. Nevertheless, he bared his teeth defiantly, and growled as the human spoke, his tiredness edging out of his throat.

* * *

><p>Sasuke inspected the blond male in front of him. Naruto was crouched next to the entrance door, and from what he'd seen before being spotted, desperately wanted to get out. He sighed. "What is it?" he asked in a tired voice. The blond had heard that question enough to understand what it meant.<p>

However, the reaction was not at all the kind he expected. Naruto released a defensive snarl, backing away from him as though he'd been about to attack the blond. He frowned, and turned the lights on.

Naruto snarled again, retreating as far as he could while his eyes got accustomed to the light. Once he had, he glared, teeth bared out and ready to bite if he dared get to close. Aggression, but also fear clouded the sky blue orbs, and the Uchiha's frown deepened. Raising his hands to signal he had no desire to harm the other male, he lowered his body. "What's your problem?"

* * *

><p>Kyuubi inspected the human with suspicious eyes. He knew the position he'd taken was terribly unstable, even for him and he wouldn't resist an assault from the transformed fox. His face carried no hint of threat, and seemed to wish no more but to go back to sleep. Hadn't he felt the call?<p>

The voice was smooth, and didn't sound dangerous at all. Maybe he hadn't, then. And perhaps he could help Kyuubi, if the fox could just explain that he needed to go to the Other Side. So with his human forepaws, he began scratching the door again.

* * *

><p>Sasuke's frown didn't lessen over the minutes. Obviously the blond wanted to get out of the apartment. He'd gotten the message. But what he didn't get was why. Inspecting the other male, his desperate face, his tense body, his- Oh. Suddenly the Uchiha smirked, realizing exactly what was going on. The visible bulge inside the blond's pants could lead to no other interpretation.<p>

Confusion let place to wonder. The kid knew what his problem was, much better than he, in a way. But he hadn't realized there was an easier solution.

He caught the blond by the arm, and helped him to his feet. "Come on," he growled tiredly as he felt the other male resist his lead. "There's another way to deal with this."

* * *

><p>Kyuubi fought the human as he was pulled back towards the den-room. He couldn't go back to sleep, not when- But the human wasn't taking him there. Instead, he was lead to the small wet-room, and released an exasperated growl. The human had already done this, showed him how and where to relieve himself, and he hadn't forgotten. This wasn't the problem, most definitely not, so why couldn't he understand?<p>

"Hold still," Sasuke growled as the blond struggled into his arms. "I know you don't want to go to the bathroom, just let me-" He stopped, and felt Naruto freeze. His hand had slipped inside the male's sleeping pants, grabbing the source of his need in a firm grip, showing him he understood exactly what the problem was. Not daring to try his luck too long, he swiftly lowered the pants, and growled, "I'm only showing you this once." It was extraordinary that the kid hadn't realized how to pleasure himself on his own. And he was too noisy for Sasuke to wait for him to figure it out by himself.

Doing his best not to focus on what he was doing -to another male- Sasuke let his hand slide up, slowly, and heard the blond release a surprised gasp. He nearly smirked. But he was tired, and doing something he'd obviously never thought he'd do to anyone but himself. So he didn't find the situation funny enough.

Naruto, however, didn't seem to mind his position at all. He arched unabashedly into the other male, thrusting against the pale hand in sheer need for release. His panting was the only sound filling the apartment, and he soon reached his climax, shaking convulsively as he came, and nearly losing his already unstable footing. Sasuke caught him with his free arm, and waited until the other male was over, before cleaning him up swiftly, and pulling his clothes back on.

Naruto clutched his shoulders, visibly dizzied by his experience, and Sasuke had to lead him back all the way to his bed, before returning to his own. Strange dreams followed his mind the entire night.

* * *

><p>Days passed. Having no notions of what weeks were, Kyuubi couldn't honestly affirm they passed as well, but pass they did to his human. He gradually got more accustomed to his daily life. He'd finally learned to understand human speech -and grudgingly had to admit Minato Namikaze had helped him there- and read it as well -objects that could talk, what next?- although he still refused to make any use of his mouth. But the Other Human had found a way to get around this. Humans could also speak with their bodies, he'd learned. He'd struggled to master the language, but had ten times rather use this one than the one that required his mouth. He refused to communicate in what the human called 'sentences', in any case. He only used the necessary key words, and leave the rest of the world to assume he would never master the art completely. People always stopped worrying about you if they thought you couldn't understand them.<p>

His human wasn't fooled, however, which proved, in the end, to be a good thing. He offered the fox these knowledge-carrying devices called books, which helped Kyuubi make a use of his otherwise very empty days.

He had begun to wish the human would let him explore Elsewhere. He believed he knew enough now to deal with all the strange objects that had to litter the 'streets' and 'roads'. He could evolve on his hind legs fairly well, now. He ate to the human's satisfaction, behaved properly whenever 'guests' were welcomed inside the lair -although he refused to speak in any way at those times- knew exactly how to use the fake-fur (called 'clothes'), and knew he could never get lost if he looked for home.

But the human was reluctant to let him come out. He locked the door -which meant that Kyuubi couldn't open it even though he knew how to do it with all the other apartment doors- whenever he came in or out, and the small device that he used to seal it -the key- stayed with him at all times.

But he wanted out. The non-liveliness of this place was making him sicker every passing day, and he needed to replenish himself. One way or another.

As the days passed, he began to consider exiting by the window. His human body was fragile and weak, but hands were a new utensil that he'd been wishing to figure out for some time, now. Although he needed to be careful. The window was high, and the grips -from what he could see- weren't numerous. And Yondaime still refused to lean him some power. Too bad for him.

He knew how to open the window. That was simple enough; he only needed to tug the 'handle' down and then pull everything back.

Cold air hit his face as soon as he did so. He didn't flinch, having already learned that the seasons never correlated Inside and Outside. Where he was, it was summer. Outside, it was the midst of winter. It wasn't snowing right now, but the ground was already coated in white. It would soften his landing. A bit. Pushing himself up upon the balcony, which the human had told him over and over _not_ to do, he crept out, biting his lower lip as the glacial air his sensible skin. _Humans, _he cursed to himself. He needed his power. But Yondaime simply ordered him to return to the den. Like that was going to happen.

_Last warning,_ he growled to his inner guardian.

_You're going to get yourself killed,_ the man snapped back. _Wait for the man to let you out himself._

But Kyuubi wasn't about to let a human -any human- dictate when and how he would make his first journey to the exterior. The ground below was far. With his body alone, Yondaime was right, he wouldn't survive the fall. He just hoped he wasn't the only one with preservation instincts. He jumped.

He heard someone scream from below, but didn't try to identify the human. His eyes focused on the ground rushing towards him, praying, praying...

Power blasted underneath his fingers, and he barely had the time to smirk before landing in an ear-splitting crash. Snow and dust flew everywhere, and Kyuubi nearly lost his balance as his hind feet slammed into the cushioned ground. He caught himself in time, and took advantage of the confusion to dart away from his landing spot. Humans were curious. Too curious, and he had no time to spend with them.

Reaching for his center, he cast an invisibility spell -Yondaime hadn't locked his powers back completely yet- and trotted off. He could run. That was good. He'd tried to in the human-den, but the distances had been too small for these to be proper attempts. He ran, and shed his spell as soon as he was far and well out of view of curious eyes.

And stopped, panting, to listen to the fulminating monologue that was going on inside his head.

_Are you completely out of your mind?_ the Fourth roared at him. _You realize you could have hurt someone? Don't use a Blast right in the middle of town, you fool! _

_Fair enough,_ Kyuubi retorted with a cynical inner smirk. _I'll be more careful next time._ He looked around. _I didn't feel any awakened souls around,_ he then informed the man. _I need to make sure._

_One tail's worth of power is more than enough, _Minato Namikaze snapped. _I don't feel anything either. _

_How can _you_ feel anything?_

_With your power, of course. _The voice was dry. _ Someone has to be able to use it. There isn't anyone. Wait. _A pause ensued. _There are several powerful souls, eastwards,_ Minato then said. _Slumbering. Perhaps they've stopped teaching people how to use their ki. But you can awaken them._

_What, with this speckle of power you gave me? _Kyuubi snorted aloud. _It's barely enough to protect me from the cold. _ He shivered slightly, and felt an additional ounce of energy slip into his grasp. _Thanks,_ he told the human dryly.

_I should have let you break a leg,_ Minato retorted. _Be thankful. So are you going to explore this strange town like you wanted to or are we going to stay there until you turn into a snow-spirit?_

Kyuubi snorted, and finished wiping the melting snow off his shoulders, drying the cloth in the process. His sleeves were short, his bottom clothes thinner than a normal human would have liked, his feet bare. But he wasn't cold.

Ignoring the curious looks shot his way as he advanced, he began advancing through the streets, this time much less wary than on his first experience. Humans had, for the most part, put on thick fake-fur -clothes, sorry- and even the few that were dressed mostly like him had all covered their feet. He could understand why.

The streets were as dead-feeling as before, although that wasn't what his eyes told him. Lights were everywhere, colorful, blinking, and music was in the air, very different from the one he was used to. He listened, intrigued as he advanced, walking along the _sidewalks_ and _shops, _inspecting what was held inside the latter. He didn't enter them, however. Humans guarding the doors observed him with too much hostility for him to dare approach.

Kits were the more numerous outside, playing with the snow by throwing pieces of it towards one another, and tried to attack him several times. Having realized after his first try that baring his teeth meant nothing in human, he decided to play by their rules, and scooped up his own handful of snow, throwing it towards the closest figure. The snow hit the human kit squarely in the chest -without any magical protection, snow in the face could be quite painful- and the rest of them all turned towards him.

If Kyuubi learned one thing on that day, it was to never underestimate the power of human loyalty.

To him, a mere fox, alliances were something to put into consideration at least for a minimum time before accepting it. One could never know when an ally might decide to switch sides. But humans obviously didn't bother about this when they played. Two groups immediately formed, classified by size, so that Kyuubi eventually found himself teamed up with other humans, as they assaulted the younger and more numerous crowd. The kits screamed in glee as they avoided the snow targeted towards them or threw it back, and the combat could have lasted more than an hour if a black _car -_one Kyuubi sadly recognized almost immediately, despite the fact that he'd seen it only once- hadn't stopped next to the combat area. The human -his human- stood out of the door, and Yondaime, who had been silently observing his actions with amused approval ever since the beginning of the fight, suddenly caught his attention.

_He's one of the slumbering souls,_ the fourth warned the fox.

Kyuubi snorted. _And you couldn't have warned me before this,_ he growled.

_I didn't want to alarm you, _Minato replied innocently. _He's powerful, though. He might even see-_

But obviously the human hadn't seen anything apart from the fact that his charge was both outside and barefoot.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded furiously, rushing over. "You're soaked! Get over here!" He rushed over, removing his topmost layer of clothing, and set it upon Kyuubi's shoulders. The human fox started shrugging it off, then realized that perhaps it was better not to use too much power this close to a slumbering spirit. Lowering the heating spell, he wrapped the soft, warm coat more tightly around his body, and followed the human back into the car.


End file.
